Week 35: Your pregnancy
Your baby's growth: Gaining fat
In week 35 the average baby weighs around 5 to 6 pounds and measures about 16 to 19 inches in length.
Your baby will begin to gain weight more rapidly than ever before … adding about an ounce each day from this point forward. Fat is being deposited all over your baby's body, especially around the shoulders.
Because of her size, your baby may move around less as her surroundings become more cramped. Her head may be resting on your pubic bone in preparation for labor and delivery.
Other developments taking place this week:
- Central nervous system will continue to mature.
- Lungs. The lungs will most likely be fully developed by Week 35.
- Activity. Your baby develops daily activity cycles. You may notice she is often more active at night, when you're trying to rest.
- Respiratory and digestive systems. Even though they won't be considered full-term until the end of the 40th week, your baby's respiratory and digestive systems are nearly mature.
- Immune system starts to develop.
- Umbilical cord. It's now about 20 inches long and approaching 1/2 inch in diameter. At birth it will be about 2 feet long and a 1/2 inch thick.
What's happening with you
Weekly doctor visits. By the 35th week your doctor will probably want to start seeing you every week until you deliver. Starting now your doctor may begin regularly checking your cervix, looking for effacement and dilation rates and to check your baby's position. "Effacement" refers to how much your cervix has stretched and thinned, and "dilation" means how much the cervix is starting to open so your baby can move through the birth canal. (A cervix is fully dilated at 10 centimeters.)
Between Weeks 35 and 37 your doctor also may test you for Group B streptococcus, an infection that can be passed on to newborns during birth.